SHENZHEN-BASED telecommunications giant Huawei said Thursday it has asked a U.S. court to overturn a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling that bans carriers from using federal funds to purchase equipment from the company.

In Huawei’s petition for review, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Louisiana, the company argues the FCC order “exceeds” the agency’s “statutory authority and violates federal law, the Constitution and other laws.”

Speaking at a press conference in Shenzhen on Thursday, chief legal officer Song Liuping said the FCC’s ruling fails to solve “any cyber security challenges.”

“Banning a company like Huawei, just because we started in China – this does not solve cyber security challenges,” Song said.

The FCC voted last month to approve an order that imposes limitations on the use of an US$8.5 billion government fund to purchase equipment or services from companies, including Huawei, deemed a threat to national security.

Song said both FCC chairman Ajit Pai and other FCC commissioners failed to present any evidence to prove their claim that Huawei constitutes a security threat, and ignored the facts and objections raised by Huawei and rural carriers after the FCC first made the proposal in March 2018.

“Huawei also submitted 21 rounds of detailed comments, explaining how the order will harm people and businesses in remote areas. The FCC ignored them all,” he said.

“Carriers across rural America, in small towns in Montana, Kentucky, and farms in Wyoming – they choose to work with Huawei because they respect the quality and integrity of our equipment,” Song added. “The FCC should not shut down joint efforts to connect rural communities in the U.S.”

This is the latest legal move by the world’s largest telecom equipment maker to target U.S. Government restrictions. Huawei sued the U.S. Government earlier this year over a measure that bars federal agencies from using its products.

Huawei says it currently serves 40 rural wireless and wireline operators in the U.S. Even though the revenue from its U.S. business is “minimal” for the telecom giant with over US$100 billion in revenue in 2018, the company decided to take on the legal fight with FCC because it suffers “reputation damage” from being listed as a national security risk, said Karl Song, vice president of Huawei’s communications team and former Huawei U.S. CEO.

Last year, North America and South America combined contributed to only 6.6 percent of total revenue for Huawei.

(SD-Agencies)